On October 1, 2001 I captured Amtrak's International Limited speeding westward through Bellevue, Michigan on the Grand Trunk Western main line. This engine was one of twenty GE P32-8WH units delivered to Amtrak in 1991. Nicknamed "Pepsi Cans" by many railfans because of their original wide-striped red, white, and blue livery, they have since been repainted in more recent Amtrak schemes. With the advent of the more powerful GE Genesis units the P32-8WHs were mostly demoted to yard switching or transfer duties, or converted to unpowered control cars.

This Amtrak train was originally called the Blue Water and ran between Chicago and Port Huron, Michigan. After Via Rail Canada inaugurated a connecting service to Toronto the train was renamed the International Limited, honoring a former Grand Trunk Western-Canadian National train on this route. However, the attack of September 11, 2001 — which occurred just three weeks before this photo was taken — eventually resulted in such long delays at the U.S.-Canada border that ridership fell off. In 2004 the service was cut back to Port Huron and resumed its original name, the Blue Water.